V.I.L.E.
V.I.L.E. is an international crime syndicate headed by Carmen Sandiego. It's name is an acronym standing for "Villains' International League of Evil" rumored to have come from an ACME informant's mislabel (although it was perhaps perpetuated as simply a misdirection on the part of its founder). Its headquarters was once at an undisclosed location somewhere in Antarctica, but after an ACME raid, VILE now relied on its less permanent network of safe houses. Origins Not much is known about VILE to create a fully accurate timeline, but this much information has already been reported. The 'official story' is this: Vile began soon after Carmen Sandiego went AWOL from the ACME corporation. Carmen's initial plans to go it alone as a rogue criminal were instantly thwarted when she found herself stranded without transportation. Vincent Fumigalli, then working as a black market salesmen, sold Carmen an illegally obtained vehicle. Fumigalli soon proved himself savvy with contacts and eventually became a source of information to the young criminal, who was consequently the first to address him by his current alias "Vic the Slick." Over time Carmen accumulated even more hardened criminals resulting in the "senior class" of VILE agents: Sarah Nade, Vic the Slick, Eartha Brute, Contessa, and Top Grunge. This team was composed entirely of 'outlaws' who all had records previous to their association with Carmen, and were all chosen based on how their particular criminal profiles could benefit the organization as a whole. For example, Contessa had worldly connections, and Grunge brought about chaos and destruction wherever he went. Almost universal to every agent's repetoire, however was the ability to create a distraction with smaller crimes to buffer Carmen's grander schemes and occasionally "take the fall" for Carmen whenever ACME attempted to pull apart her master plans. One of the major reasons Carmen has eluded ACME up to this point has been due to the interference of VILE henchmen whose sinister motives must be stopped in ways that precede the necessity of Carmen's capture. VILE, like ACME, started out as a relatively low-tech organization, largely communicating between members via phone, through letters, in secret code, and in person via a variety of fencing operations Carmen has set up through the world. As ACME entered the fully technological phase of its development, spearheaded by child prodigy Ivan Idea, and his modification of an old technology resulting in the C-5 matter transportation system, Carmen kept up. Her first foray into technological espionage came through the aid of another adolescent genius, Sarah Bellum, but ultimately Sarah Bellum proved herself to be a traitor who saught to usurp Carmen as the head of VILE, and was quickly dispatched into permanent custody of the United States prison system. The modern VILE now exists as a compromise between the two: most of its business is done using standard methods of espionage combined with the leftover technology from the Bellum era. Additionally, VILE agents are now often considered to be at different times "free" and "in employment" of the agency, making it difficult to tell when they may or may not be working for Carmen at any time. What is written about the organization is merely what's been known to ACME agents post-areest and due to the work of informants. Therefore the sheer reach of Carmen's trusted political organization was, is, and may well be, permanently unknown. The 'unofficial story', involves Contessa Adrianna Covrenzi, a young woman named Morgan Cedesina, and Gunnar Maelstrom. Nature of the organization Understanding the nature of an organization like VILE would require understanding of its founder, and not only is a complete psychological profile of Carmen Sandiego momentarily incomplete, but has ultimately been set back several years thanks to Carmen's numerous invasions of the ACME database. Therefore, any information presented here is still largely theoretical. When analyzing the pattern of criminals chosen to join the ranks of VILE, some would say there is no pattern. In the years VILE has been in operation, its members have ranged from the most eriudite, resource-driven, master criminal (Contessa) to the most common, self serving, low life thug (Top Grunge). Some members have completely clean, rational, psychological profiles (Sara Nade), and others are heavily traumatized, emotionally stunted, pychological ticking time bombs (Ken U. Belevitt). The only thing keeping ACME from believing Carmen simply has a fair hiring policy is that they know Carmen is a hopless strategist, and therefore must be picking her henchmen with some sort of criteria in mind. Initially VILE was believed to be a revolving door of world class criminals, but that theory was debunked when Carmen acquisitioned henchmen like Patty Larceny, a shoplifter, and Top Grunge, a leader of a motorcycle gang, who's criminal activity would have ordinarily been too minor if Carmen's intent was to create an orginization of criminal peers. Chief Arlene Lynchpin, and her division of ACME used to rationalize the existence of VILE as being "A group of utter incompetents; common criminals led like blind mice to meet Carmen's sinister ends." However, this too has been proven to be a fallacy, since Carmen's henchmen have proven to be self-sufficient, and at times intellectually and strategically equal to their leader. For example, Vic The Slick, a key agent of VILE, styles himself as little more than a scam artist with a hideous fashion sense, when in reality he's a world-scale smuggler and engineer of countless racketeering operations. It is a possibility, then, that Carmen purposefully picks henchmen who possess hidden exceptional criminal abilities, similar to ACME's genius class of recruitment. Many VILE agents take their orders directly from Carmen Sandiego and are often left in a state of decommission when not working on a heist. While some of them continue to commit crimes and work in criminal operations outside of VILE, others simply stay dormant in jail or in VILE's headquarters until they recieve new orders. Money, doctored papers, and virtually every amenity necessary to complete their work is provided through the organization either by Carmen's undisclosed wealth or Vic's numerous fencing operations. Some of them even claim to cash weekly paychecks. Carmen makes sure all of her henchmen are capable of every right and privelege that is offered to ACME agents, in what is perhaps her attempt at subverting the old addage "crime doesn't pay." Based on what information has been released thus far, it is safe to assume that VILE doesn't employ any sort of formal agreement among its employees similar to the ACME S.O.U.L. contract. However, it is expected of a VILE agent to do whatever is needed to facilitate Carmen's plan, even if it means allowing themselves to be arrested. Loyalty among VILE agents to one another is expected, and loyalty to Carmen is mandatory. Even though Carmen has had a history of traitors, saboteurs, and would-be usurpers in her organization in the past, Carmen has dealt with each of them in a way that sends a clear message that she's not to be trifled with. In many circumstances, the ability to work with Carmen is beneficial to the VILE agent, as their lives would be anything ranging from boring to tragic without her involvement or aid. Though Carmen may appear to be a cold and cruel taskmistress to anyone on the outside, within VILE she is seen as a caring boss and someone to whom many of the henchmen owe their freedom and lives. It is due to a combination of such factors that Carmen has inspired an unprecedented sense of loyalty and family amongst the henchmen of her organization. Many of the senior VILE thieves have also been known to completely trust her judgment and would willingly risk their lives for her. Facilities VILE posseses a vast and intricate network of safehouses around the world. These safehouses are rumoured to be so discreet and numerous that in almost every major city in the world there exists a VILE safehouse. These 'safehouses' may or may not be glamourous and have been rumoured to range from a shack in the woods to a penthouse apartment or even a private island. VILE also has several sites that serves as headquarters for its operations. While it's main operational Headquarters was formerly in an undisclosed location in Antarctica, it was also rumoured to have other facilities which served as headquarters for other aspects of VILE such as their trade network. During the events of Paradigm Shift '' and ''Auld Lang Syne, ACME was mentioned as having raided several VILE installations and safehouses, culminating in a raid on the Antarctica HQ. However, VILE was tipped off to the approaching raid and evacuated long before ACME arrived. VILE also set a decoy laptop amongst the left behind items in Antarctica. The information on the laptop served to steer ACME towards only facilities that VILE wanted them to raid/destroy (facilities that would have already been evacuated and deemed as 'expendable') In Auld Lang Syne, it is mentioned that VILE's temporary base of operations is currently in an abandoned theatre building in an undisclosed location. The theatre, later revealed to be Stone Harbor Theatre, has been renovated and is now fully functional. In events after Seraphim, it is mentioned that VILE owns not only the theatre but the entire compound on which the theatre is situated. Post Seraphim, it is also mentioned that VILE has acquired The Mirage Hotel & Casino to serve as both an investment and a Vegas safehouse. Scope of work VILE theives work both on and off the clock. When 'on the clock', VILE thieves pull of various heists as instructed by Carmen either to aid in her main plan or to serve as distractions and decoy. When 'off the clock', VILE thieves are free to pull off their own heists as they see fit. However, whether on or off the clock, all members of VILE are expected to stick to the code of conduct as outlined and set by Carmen herself. Amongst the key items in this code of conduct are rules which prohibit VILE Agents from deliberately causing grievous harm to anyone, even in self-defence; VILE agents are also not allowed to steal items for reasons of profit. Carmen also seems to have something against any of her agents stealing any personal items from anyone else. Anything stolen by VILE is usually returned in due course with little damage though there are several notable exceptions including the old ACME tower. It is also rumoured that VILE mantains its supposedly sizable income through many other means other than thievery. Chief amongst these rumours are that VILE supposedly has many legit bonds and investments through which it gains much financial independance. It is also rumoured that VILE runs most of the trading networks in the blackmarket, though it is only supposedly as a means to recover stolen artifacts and priceless treasures which would then somehow mysteriously end up found/returned to their rightful place. It is also rumoured that VILE also uses said trading networks to intercept money that is being laundered. There is also another rumour that VILE thieves are sometimes secretly paid by various organizations and companies to test out their security systems. There are also rumours that Carmen uses VILE to secretly and annonymously fund many charities around the world though said charities seemingly deny this. References *VILE Headquarters on TECS Category:Story